A 21-year-old Long Island woman was arrested for allegedly fleeing the scene of a deadly accident -- in a marked public safety vehicle that had just responded to the scene, authorities say.
Rachel Lodice, of Jericho, was driving a 2023 Kia soundbound on Hicksville Road in Massapequa around 6:45 p.m. Tuesday when police say she hit a 2022 Nissan Altima moving east on Sunrise Highway.
The Nissan driver, 64-year-old Cynthia Mitchell, died of her injuries at a hospital. A 46-year-old passenger was taken there for treatment of non-life-threatening injuries, police said.
"Her daughter can’t breathe right now. We have to pick up these pieces, we have to raise a child that had everything going for her. It's not fair," said Monique Powell, a friend of the victim who urged law enforcement not to release Lodice.
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While on patrol, an Oyster Bay public safety officer came upon the accident and stopped to assist. Cops say Lodice got into his marked vehicle and drove off. She was apprehended a short time later, wearing the officer's jacket.
"[Mitchell's] daughter is 18, going to college, honor student — without her mother," said Powell, adding that the suspect was "making a mockery out of it. She doesn’t know her phone number, her license."
Lodice was charged with vehicular manslaughter, leaving the scene of an incident, driving while intoxicated and grand larceny. A woman who said she's soon to be Lodice’s mother-in-law told NBC New York that Lodice is a new mom who was tried after driving from Texas to New York.
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"I know her, she didn’t mean to hurt nobody, she didn’t mean to damage anyone's life," the woman, who did not wish to be identified, said. "She didn’t mean to destroy anyone's life, all she wanted to do is pull in the front of the parking lot and put the pack-and-play in the car, that was it."
Police said that while in the back of a squad car, Lodice told them “I'm not supposed to drink with my medicine."
Lodice was arraigned later Wednesday, with a judge setting bail at $250,000. Attorney information wasn't immediately available.
